My First Wool Skein

Our first animal on the farm was a sheep. I had never had a sheep and when we went to pick up Sage, our Shetland sheep, the lady there was a spinner and a knitter. She showed us her wheels and knitted projects. I remember thinking how cool it would be to make your own yarn and to knit something with the yarn. I knew none of those skills so it was just a dream…7.5 years ago.

Yesterday, I finished my first skein of wool yarn.

Last year I bought my first spinning wheel so I could start to learn how to spin.

I had 6 years worth of wool in bags in the basement. The pressure to do something with all this wool was mounting.

I washed one fleece…two years ago 🙂

Then this year I decided that if I was really going to get going with processing all this wool, I needed some accountability. What better way to be accountable than with friends!

Especially friends who know way more than I do.

My new friend and I learned how to card wool…

These are called rovings when you roll the wool off the carders.

And of course, there’s always some vegetation that needs to be picked out.

Then it’s time to start spinning…

It’s fun seeing all the different wheels that my friends bring to the house.

Michelle and I have a simple basic wheel but it works! Someday I’d like to get a fancy wheel – they’re beautiful and spin so nicely.

Once the wool is spun, then it’s put on Yarn Ball Winder.

The wool is then plied which means the two ends are twisted together in the opposite direction of the original spinning.

This is what it looks like when the plying is finished.

The skein is set in hot water with a few drop of Dawn Dishwashing soap to clean and set the yarn.

Carefully, the water is squeezed out and rolled in a towel for that last bit of water.

Lastly, it’s hung up to dry.

I’ve not started knitting with my yarn yet but I’m excited to give it a try.

We have some great knitters in our group and they’re all different ages.

I love listening to them talk about patterns, stitches, techniques….

And then seeing what they’re making!

These are little leg-warmers for her niece who’ll be born in a month. Aren’t they cute!!?

It’s so wonderful to be with a group of friends who are like minded and know more than me…